Good genre movie that could have been better

Rating: 7/10 (22 October 2007)

It's interesting to see how popular a movie can get despite being derivative to the extreme. I guess this simply means that not enough people have yet seen George Romero's zombie trilogy, or classic British apocalypse TV such as Day Of The Triffids or the mid-70s "The Survivors". Making a good genre movie doesn't simply mean patching together all the familiar elements of the genre; you have to add a new twist or a new aesthetic to it. I can't say that "28 Days Later" does any of this.
The first 1/3rd of the movie is excellent, gaining strength from the predictable yet very spooky images of a London completely empty from people. Cillian Murphy immediately wins the viewers sympathy, and carries the whole movie in a way that the director & writer should be quite grateful for. Unfortunately I think there is a slackening of pace and narrative grip in the middle third, which is the encounter and northbound car journey with another couple of survivors. The two female roles aren't properly developed, and I personally think the actors can't match Murphy & Gleeson... it really does feel like an old TV series here, briefly.
The last third is very uneven; it covers familiar territory while making some interesting points; the direction is alternately confused and inspired, and there is a definite weakening from insufficient exposition of the soldiers as group and individuals. A lot is asked from the viewer here, and it seemed sloppy and B-movie like, compared to the first third.
Basically, the movie tries to combine two powerful (yet familiar) themes into one, and a proper balance is not achieved. A different editing of the storyline would probably have improved things, but ultimately it is a case of a well-known and thus predictable story, whose first hour or so still works well thanks to atmosphere and acting, which cannot maintain its strength until the end. All in all, I was a little disappointed, but still found the movie worth watching.